Over its century-long history, the UCC debate club has been groundbreaking in all manners. In the early 1910s, the club debated women’s suffrage and public ownership of services when those issues were hotly contested in Canadian politics and adamantly opposed by the school community (as one would expect). More recently, it has produced many major tournament winners and Team Canada-level debaters, notable among them former Head Steward Randy Chang ‘23.
As part of our goal to feature as many UCC clubs as possible, I interviewed the coach of the debate club, Brandon Zhang, about debating as an activity, UCC debate, and his own experiences. He was Seagram’s IV Champion and Canadian Parliamentary Nationals semifinalist in 2023 and breaking judge at Hart House Intervarsity 2024, among many other achievements.
The Interview
Q: Describe yourself outside of debate.
A: I would describe myself as a laid back person outside of debate. I also value flexibility in my life greatly, because being open towards different hobbies and making spontaneous decisions is the way I go about life.
Q: When and why did you start debating?
A: I started in Grade 9, admittedly only because my parents forced me to go to classes.
Q: What are the biggest challenges you faced in your debating career?
A: COVID was the biggest challenge of my debate career. I retired throughout the course of COVID and only came back after in person debate returned. COVID was a big roadblock for me because community is one of the parts of debate that I value the most and I felt that the sense of community was missing with online competitions. Not breaking at tournaments was also challenging for me. Notable cases: missing the NAUDC break by dropping in the bubble room, and dropping from the WUDC break after a strong day 2 that brought us back in contention.
Note: NAUDC is the most prestigious tournament for North American debaters, and WUDC is the world championship of university debate. A bubble room is a room in the final round of the first stage where teams could potentially break (progress into the elimination rounds) , hence the pain when Brandon lost in that room.
Q: What about the accomplishments you are most proud of?
A: My biggest accomplishment is without a doubt my first (and only) win at seagrams iv, but along that a lot of my breaks are valuable to me for different reasons, from debating with friends to debating with people who are improving,
Q: What are your favorite and least favorite types of motions?
A: Favourite type of motion is without a doubt any International Relations motion, as they all provide for interesting debates and are often very intellectual in nature. Least favorite is definitely art motions, impacts within those motions are so arbitrary and incredibly small.
Note: The motion is the debater’s name for their topic of debate. There is an incredible breadth of motions in debating.
Q: Favorite debater to watch?
A: Veenu Goswami is a name most debaters only know if they are deep in the community but for someone from Hart House, the name is legendary and his speaking style lives up to his reputation. Everything he says is so clear and well explained, it’s incredibly easy to understand and follow but still is somehow so technical and complex.
Note: Veenu Goswami, from U of T Hart House, is one of the best debaters in Canada. He won British Parliamentary National Championships in 2011, Canadian Parliamentary Nationals in 2013, and made the finals of WUDC 2016, where he lost to debating legends Bo Seo and Fanele Mashwama.
Debate as an activity & UCC Debate:
Q: What things did you learn from all those years of debate?
A: The most important thing I learned was the ability to speak publicly with confidence. Another skill debating builds, which is often understated, is the ability to think quickly. Having to respond on the spot to someone questioning your arguments every round of debate develops a strong degree of confidence, intuition, and on-the-feet thinking that other activities simply cannot replicate.
Q: Why do you think people should join UCC Debate?
A: People should join the UCC debate because the skills, such as eloquence and adaptability, that you obtain from debating are transferable to other aspects of your life. Not only that, you can also build life-long connections and friendships with people who may potentially be leaders in the future.
Q: Why did you choose UCC Debate?
A: I chose UCC Debate for the community, and the ability to coach a consistent group of students. While in private academies I was making more money, I was never fulfilled seeing students come and go without developing a real connection with them in a way that can be developed with a steady group of students. This is not to say that any of my past students were bad at anything, just that seeing them only for a mere few months is very different from seeing the debate career of someone evolve and flourish over the 5 years they will be at UCC debate.
Q: What is your vision for UCC debate?
A: My vision for UCC debate is to evolve and build up the organization to be an efficient and successful club with solid operating guidelines that allows for effective development of talent. Setting up the infrastructure is very important, because it allows for good practice from people who truly want to be better at debate and fosters an inviting and exciting atmosphere.
Q: Any targets for this year?
A: My target for this year is to set up the infrastructure from a top down level, ensuring that the executives who run the club are able to do their job effectively, and develop from there.
UCC Debate has meetings every Monday and Thursday at Room 213 after school and you will see Brandon there along with club executives. Every new member is welcome.
The Blue and White 